Meeting Minutes

Meeting was called to order by Kevin Hoult at 7:30am. Mike French led the flag salute.

Minutes:

Jack moved to accept August 14th meeting minutes, seconded by Gerry Austin. Motion passed.

Announcements:

Jon Fager gave a Treasurer’s report. PABA has 64 current members, has funded Youth in Government and Future Business Leaders of America. George B. asked what the reserves were at this time last year, Jon responded about the same, $9K.

Lindsey Schromen-Wawrin announced a Planning Commission meeting Wednesday to talk about the RV Proposal For Temporary Housing. He hasn’t been able to find evidence that it affects property values and requests that if anyone does, please forward to him.

Peggy N. gave the quote of the day, “Smoke might not cure live men but it sure cures dead swine”.

Program:  The Remediators, Howard Sprouse

He has been a Joyce and PA resident since 70’s. His business was started in 2005 after working with Batelle Marine Science Lab where he used mushrooms to clean toxins out of soil and water. Now he works with companies like Exxon to individual land owners to design and build treatment systems for soil and stormwater.

He takes on student interns who learn from experimental design and develop lab skills. His lab was at Peninsula College. In learning how to control biological organisms he realized he had to bring in other components like zinc and metal  to experiment. Integrated biological application uses plants, mushrooms and charcoal. Unfortunately, the regulatory agencies for stormwater aren’t providing solutions.

In Seattle they were able to install monitoring wells to see if rain gardens were working. The first rain is what carries most of pollutants. At a 2-story apartment building they put in a pond system with NW native plants and a bioswale system. Now there are thousands of these systems.

He showed photos of the Duwamish River comparison of over a hundred years and talked about how it is important that they are working to have no impact on salmon and keeping pollutants from river through rain gardens.

Remediators work with U of W using natural plant-microbe symbiosis for removing environmental pollution. He pitched the system to the military and the University then was able to license the system to a CA space biology program. Liability travels with the contaminant in soils.

There is no single method of treatment, but when combined, they can treat everything at once. It’s the first time in the world that all contaminants can be treated successfully on site. The only other way is to dig it all up and haul it away. They learn about the site and select plants and fungi to treat. Zinc, copper, nickel, and uranium can all be treated and sometimes harvested.

They were able to help Exxon when they contaminated the municipal water supply at a transfer facility by using root systems and aerated lagoons.

Land developers deal with a system that is blind with expensive pumps and maintenance. His systems are highly functional and cost much less.

How effective are the rain gardens at the courthouse? Unknown. They could put in a monitoring well like in Seattle.

At the Port they have a problem with zinc and copper from boats per Commissioner McAleer. The Department of Ecology checks every 5 years and constantly lowers the threshold of levels. Boatyards are being shut down who can’t comply. This is the most important issue to address.

Can process be upscaled? Biomass harvesting has been up to 20 acres.

His production facility is in Shelton and he has a lab in Port Gamble.

Upcoming Meeting:

Meeting adjourned at 8:30am.